A wingnut is a handy, stabilizing piece of hardware. So why is it a pejorative term for those of a certain political persuasion? Also, is there something wrong with the phrase committed suicide? Some say that the word commit is a painful reminder...
A woman in Hudson, New York, says her boyfriend, who grew up on Long Island, uses the expression call out sick, meaning “to phone an employer to say you’re not coming to work because you’re ill.” But she uses the phrase call in sick to mean the very...
stand and sue v. phr.— «There is no question that your managing director’s actions give employees a number of potential claims, not least of which is constructive and unfair dismissal—but are employees going to walk out of a job when there aren’t...
smoothing n.— «Another employer victory was this: Congress made it clear that companies can meet the funding target by measuring assets over the past 24 months. This technique, known as “smoothing,” reduces the impact of this year’s big stock...
border shopping n.— «Since coming back to Canada, he’s tried to cross again, unsuccessfully, at other ports of entry—because his U.S. employer still wants him back. Gibbons said, each time, he was made to feel more and more like a criminal. “They...
wearaway n.— «There has been a constant battle over freezing some older workers pension benefits since IBM ran afoul of its senior workers in 1999. That fight may be over as the U.S. Treasury has now issued a ruling that determined that no foul is...